Thinking Machines

I want to tell you about thinking machines. Not the kind that exist now, but the kind that could exist in the future. machines that can think for themselves.

Sure, we have computers now that can do all sorts of things faster than we can. But they’re still following rules programmed into them by humans. What if there were machines that could figure things out for themselves? That’s what machine learning is all about.

Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence where computers are given data and then left to find patterns on their own. This is different from traditional programming where someone has to write specifically what the computer should do step-by-step instructions like: “IF x then DO y.” With machine learning, instead it looks more like this: “GIVE me data about past actions and desired outcomes THEN let me learn how to generalize so I can apply those findings to new situations.” So whereas a normal program might give you an answer based on specific conditions you set beforehand, a machine learning algorithm will eventually be able to give you an answer even if it’s never seen that specific situation before.

This ability for machines to learn on their own is what could make them truly intelligent in the future. And it’s not just a matter of making things easier for us humans either; machine learning could help us discover new knowledge that we wouldn’t be able to find ourselves. Imagine all the possibilities!